Houston moms send message to John Cornyn: Ban assault weapons

Norri Leder, a Houston mom, said she watched TV pundits discuss the pros and cons of firearm restrictions after last week’s Newtown, Conn., massacre, and she didn’t want her voice to be excluded from the national discussion.

So she hopped on Facebook and found some like-minded moms who pooled their efforts to build a memorial to the people who died in the Dec. 14 mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The mothers and supporters, many holding signs, gathered outside Sen. John Cornyn‘s (R-Texas) office at 5300 Memorial Drive to rally their support for restrictions on semi-automatic assault rifles, such as the one used by Newtown gunman Adam Peter Lanza.

“I called Cornyn’s office and asked what their position was on semi-automatic weapons and the large clips and magazines,” Leder said. “An aide said that the senator was open to looking at new legislation, which sounded great, but in general he (Cornyn) is a strong gun rights advocate who thinks this issue was on the state level.”

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the discussion this week, saying that teachers and administrators should be armed to prevent carnage on school campuses. At a tea party event Tuesday in the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills, Perry said that local districts – and not the state or federal government – “should be allowed to decide their own gun policies.”

The state leaders’ positions had Leder seething.

“I just couldn’t stand it,” she said, “so I got on Facebook and email and said, ‘Who wants to go stand out here with me?’ We’re really just a bunch of mothers. We’re not politicos. We’re Democrats and Republicans and everybody, just agreeing that these semi-automatic weapons and large clips are not about defending ourselves.”

The moms, many carrying signs that read, “20 Children Gone, We Won’t Forget,” and “Pray For Newtown, Never Again,” braved afternoon winds that threatened to topple their signs and blow away the stuffed animals and pink roses that made up the memorial. One of the placards listed the names and ages of the children who died at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Houston resident Mike Roberson joined the mothers in their calls for assault weapon restrictions.

“What happened is senseless,” said Roberson, who has an 8-year-old granddaughter. “We have to draw the line somewhere. At what point do we actually step up and do something to curb this type of senseless violence? When the Founding Fathers wrote the Second Amendment to the Constitution (protecting rights to bear arms), obviously they didn’t have this (tragedy) in mind.”

“Sen. Cornyn like most Americans is grieving with the families of the children and innocent individuals killed in Newtown Friday,” Sandlin stated in an email. “While there will be a time for policy discussion, out of respect to those families, now is not the time. He has listed various ways to support the community of Newtown on his web site and remains focused on supporting this community in mourning.”